Look Up, Not Down
by ncfan
Summary: Before arriving at the fight against Aizen, Yoruichi runs into Soi Fong.


**Characters: **Yoruichi, Soi Fong**  
Pairings:** None.**  
Warning/Spoilers: **Spoilers for Fake Karakura Town Arc.**  
Timeline: **Pre-403.**  
Author's Note: **They deserved a moment.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

* * *

Soi Fong had taken a position at a distance from the fight when Yoruichi found her. Yoruichi took in her former protégée's appearance, how battered she was, her arm—or rather, lack of one. Soi Fong was huddled against a steel girder that had fallen to the ground, collapsed on her knees, her face anemic with exhaustion and pain.

Yoruichi's eyes swept over Soi Fong with sympathy, before she announced her presence. "Soi Fong."

The small captain's slate gray eyes, gray with a tiny hint of blue in them, looked up at Yoruichi in surprise. Soi Fong didn't smile but relaxed a little bit. "Yoruichi-sama." She inclined her head respectfully. "You'll forgive me if I don't rise."

"Forgiven." Yoruichi crouched down by Soi Fong, placing a hand on her shoulder so Yoruichi could get a close look at her. Soi Fong was more than just pale, she was nearly white with strain and exhaustion.

Soi Fong avoided her gaze, dropping her blue-tinted eyes to the ground, her chin tucked against her shoulder. She looked astoundingly like her teenaged self in that moment, insecure, overawed, a painfully shy individual. Soi Fong had never looked at Yoruichi.

A weary sigh escaped from Yoruichi's lips, as she placed a gentle hand under Soi Fong's chin. "Soi Fong, look at me."

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, Soi Fong lifted her eyes, shifting, wary, and recalcitrant like a sulky child. Yoruichi sighed again, this time with a rueful smile. "Even when you're looking up," she murmured, "you're still looking down."*

Yoruichi changed the subject when an explosion sounded off from far away. She'd have to go soon. "So?" she asked with a pretense of joviality. "How have things been?"

The conversational tone could have been applied to a talk about the weather or a talk between two casual friends who had not seen each other in the span of a couple of weeks, but Yoruichi knew better, and so did Soi Fong.

Soi Fong shrugged. "So-so," she answered cagily. "Things have been getting interesting."

"There's an old Chinese curse that says, "May you live in interesting times"," Yoruichi quipped, breaking into a toothy grin, incisors exposed. Her grin died when she turned her gold eyes back on Soi Fong's amputated arm. "Are you alright?" she shook her head towards the bandage-wrapped arm.

The younger of the two women shifted uncomfortably. "It doesn't hurt," Soi Fong whispered, staring off into the distance with her eyes half-lidded and her thick, sooty eyelashes hanging low.

Yoruichi stared at her, frowning sadly for a moment. Then, her face brightened slightly as she swept up a playful smile. "Don't try to act tough around me, Soi Fong. I can still remember when reading _Persuasion_ would make you cry."*

Her cheeks went a brilliant shade of pink as Soi Fong opened her mouth then seemed to think better of it, smiling her first and last genuine smile of the day, a tiny, wistful thing.

Another explosion came. Yoruichi stood up, staring in the direction from which the explosion came. "Well, I've gotta a fight to get to, Soi Fong, so if you don't mind—"

"Wait!" Soi Fong cried desperately, her eyes widening in panic. She squared her shoulders as Yoruichi leveled her eyes on her, and said, with a completely straight face and a even tone, "Send the bastard into next week, Yoruichi-sama."

Yoruichi smirked, "Gladly", and was gone in a flash of wind.

Soi Fong stared at the place where she had been, eyes horribly blank. "Make sure to come back this time, Yoruichi-sama," she muttered, folding her remaining hand across her lap.

* * *

*In _Babylon 5_, Delenn and Lennier had this conversation more than once. Their relationship is similar to what Yoruichi and Soi Fong's originally was, but with radically different personalities.

*_Persuasion_ is a Jane Austen novel that is more than capable of reducing readers to tears.


End file.
